[env-trinity] Earthjustice Press Release-Court Ruling Gives Hope to Klamath Salmon

Tue Oct 18 14:14:19 PDT 2005

http://www.earthjustice.org/

 Court Ruling Gives Hope to Klamath Salmon 
Judges send government plan back to establish better balance 

October 18th, 2005 

Contact Info:
Kristen Boyles, Earthjustice: 206.343.7340 x33 
Glen Spain, PCFFA: 541.689.2000 
Steve Pedery, ONRC: 503.283.6343 x212 

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San Francisco, CA-- Today the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the
Bush administration’s water diversion plan for the Klamath River because it
fails to protect threatened Klamath River coho salmon. The court sided with
fishing and conservation groups that have been seeking a more balanced
distribution of water needed to rebuild Klamath River salmon stocks. The
court found the government’s plan illegal because it failed to provide
adequate water flows for coho salmon until eight years into the ten-year
plan. 

The court said, “Five full generations of coho will complete their
three-year life cycles -- hatch, rear, and spawn -- during those eight
years. Or, if there is insufficient water to sustain the coho during this
period, they will not complete their life cycle, with the consequence that
there will be no coho at the end of the eight years. If that happens, all
the water in the world in 2010 and 2011 will not protect the coho, for
there will be none to protect.” 

Salmon advocates have been pointing to the plan’s inadequacies since it was
released in May 2002. Indeed, as soon as it was implemented and water
diversions to upstream farmers began, juvenile salmon died in the river. A
severe shortage of adult Klamath River salmon this year is traced directly
to the effects of diverting Klamath water to farms. This shortage resulted
in commercial salmon fishermen losing about 50 percent of their normal
fishing season. In 2003, a federal district court struck down the long-term
portion of the plan but ordered no change to current operations. 

“This decision gives hope to the families that depend on Klamath River
salmon,” said Glen Spain of Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermens' 

Associations. “This case is about restoring balance to the basin so that
fishermen, Native Americans, and irrigators can all receive a fair share of
the water. We will continue to work on a new vision for the basin.” PCFFA
is the west coast’s largest organization of commercial fishing families. 

A coalition of commercial fishermen and conservation groups, joined by the
Yurok and Hoopa Valley Tribes, filed the lawsuit against the National
Marine Fisheries Service and Bureau of Reclamation in September 2002
because the agencies’ 10-year plan failed to leave sufficient water in the
river for salmon and relied on future, speculative actions from the states
of California and Oregon to make up for the missing water. Five months
after the plan was adopted, in the fall of 2002, low flows caused by
unbalanced irrigation deliveries killed over 64,000 adult salmon. However
months earlier, during the spring of 2002, juvenile salmon died in the
river from low water conditions. The loss of these juveniles is what led to
the severe commercial salmon fishing restrictions this year on the
California and Oregon coasts. 

Because Klamath River coho are protected as a threatened species under the
Endangered Species Act, the National Marine Fisheries Service must approve
any irrigation plan devised by the Bureau of Reclamation that relies on
taking water from the Klamath River. In May 2002, the Fisheries Service
held that the Bureau’s plan would jeopardize the continued survival of the
Klamath River coho, but failed to require adequate measures to protect the
salmon. 

The court ordered the case back to the district court to put more water in
the river saying, “We emphasize that the interim injunctive relief should
reflect the short life-cycle of the species. It is not enough to provide
water for the coho to survive in five years, if in the meantime, the
population has been weakened or destroyed by inadequate water flows.” 

“Bush administration officials swept science under the rug, and the court
caught them,” said Earthjustice attorney Kristen Boyles. “With this
decision, management of the Klamath River must be balanced so salmon and
the communities that depend on them aren’t left high and dry.” 

Inadequate river flows that result when the Bureau of Reclamation diverts
water for irrigation in the high desert hurt salmon in a number of ways.
Newly hatched salmon, called fry, need safe habitat in and around bank
vegetation to hide and feed. Lower river flows force these young fish into
the mainstream of the river where they are easy prey. Juvenile salmon,
called smolts, need adequate river flows and cold clean water in the spring
to safely make the journey to the Pacific Ocean. Adult salmon, returning
upriver to spawn, are hurt or killed by high water temperatures and poor
water quality due to low river flows caused by upstream irrigation
diversions. 

“The Bush administration has worked hard to maintain the status quo in the
Klamath Basin, but the status quo killed 64,000 salmon,” said Steve Pedery
of ONRC. “Too much water has been promised to too many different interests.
Salmon need water to survive, and so do the commercial fishing and Native
American families whose livelihood depends on healthy salmon runs." 

The Klamath was once the third mightiest salmon-producing river in the
continental US, behind only the Columbia and Sacramento in productivity.
The river has been reduced to a shadow of its former self largely as a
result of the Bureau of Reclamations’ re-plumbing of its headwaters to
maximize irrigation in the arid upper basin desert. The long-term answer
could include buying back some of the agriculture land in the Klamath Basin
to reduce water demand. 

The appeal was filed by Earthjustice on behalf of PCFFA, Institute for
Fisheries Resources, The Wilderness Society, WaterWatch of Oregon,
Northcoast Environmental Center, Oregon Natural Resources Council,
Defenders of Wildlife, Klamath Forest Alliance, and Headwaters. In the
district court, these groups were joined by Congressman Mike Thompson
(D-Napa) and the Yurok and Hoopa Valley Tribes; amicus briefs supporting
the plaintiffs were filed by the Cities of Arcata and Eureka, Del Norte,
Humboldt, and Trinity Counties, and the Humboldt Bay, Harbor, Recreation
and Conservation District. 

# # # 

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 Court Ruling Gives Hope to Klamath Salmon 
Judges send government plan back to establish better balance 

October 18th, 2005 

Contact Info:
Kristen Boyles, Earthjustice: 206.343.7340 x33 
Glen Spain, PCFFA: 541.689.2000 
Steve Pedery, ONRC: 503.283.6343 x212 

Print-Friendly Version

San Francisco, CA-- Today the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the
Bush administration’s water diversion plan for the Klamath River because it
fails to protect threatened Klamath River coho salmon. The court sided with
fishing and conservation groups that have been seeking a more balanced
distribution of water needed to rebuild Klamath River salmon stocks. The
court found the government’s plan illegal because it failed to provide
adequate water flows for coho salmon until eight years into the ten-year
plan. 

The court said, “Five full generations of coho will complete their
three-year life cycles -- hatch, rear, and spawn -- during those eight
years. Or, if there is insufficient water to sustain the coho during this
period, they will not complete their life cycle, with the consequence that
there will be no coho at the end of the eight years. If that happens, all
the water in the world in 2010 and 2011 will not protect the coho, for
there will be none to protect.” 

Salmon advocates have been pointing to the plan’s inadequacies since it was
released in May 2002. Indeed, as soon as it was implemented and water
diversions to upstream farmers began, juvenile salmon died in the river. A
severe shortage of adult Klamath River salmon this year is traced directly
to the effects of diverting Klamath water to farms. This shortage resulted
in commercial salmon fishermen losing about 50 percent of their normal
fishing season. In 2003, a federal district court struck down the long-term
portion of the plan but ordered no change to current operations. 

“This decision gives hope to the families that depend on Klamath River
salmon,” said Glen Spain of Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermens' 